The present invention relates to an image signal apparatus and method for capturing moving image data, which may be supplied from a digital video tape recorder (VTR) or the like, and for processing and/or interpolating the captured image data so as to obtain stationary image data representative of a desired image frame which is suitable for display on a display device.
A computer, such as a so-called personal computer, may process image data supplied from an external device and/or display such data on a monitor unit connected to the computer. Such external device may be an analog VTR or a digital VTR (such as a digital video camera or a so-called digital cam-coder) which may record and/or reproduce image data of a moving image or images. As is to be appreciated, the digital VTR may provide a higher quality image signal than that of the analog VTR. Therefore, a digital VTR may supply data corresponding to a number of fields or frames of image or video data to a computer, whereupon such data may be processed and displayed on a monitor.
With regard to the display of data, it may be desired to display a stationary image corresponding to only a single frame or the like. However, if the data of such frame represents a moving image or images, the stationary image which is displayed may not be acceptable. More specifically, moving image data from a digital VTR or the like may be supplied to a personal computer, whereupon an image file may be formed in frame units. An operator may select a desired image from one of the frames in the image file for display as a stationary image on a display device. Such frame may be formed from a first field and a second field in an interlace manner. As a result, if such frame includes (or is part of a sequence of frames which includes) a moving image or images, movement between the image of the first field and that of the second field may exist due to the time separation between the first and second fields. Such movement or deviation between the first and second fields may cause stripes or the like to be produced in the displayed stationary image thereby deteriorating the quality of such displayed image. As is to be appreciated, the greater the movement or deviation between the first and second fields, the greater the deterioration in the quality of the displayed image.